Feb 25, 2014 is a special day,
At 10:15a.m., President Clifton M Smart of Missouri State University met me in his office.
I missed the opportunity to meet him at the alumna event of Missouri State University in Beijing, May 27, 2012. But, I did read his working report 2013 twice, as soon as I reached in the USA Sept 12, 2013.
Then I read the annual report 2013 of Missouri State University twice as well.
I had made many notes on everything that I did not very understand and I would really like to have an interview with him and to write an article for one of my new books:
My American Stories. However, I had no been having the courage to connect him. I was afraid of being refusing or my letter was like a stone dropped (sunk) into the sea.
Even though I did feel there are so many things relate to American education and culture are worth Chinese people to think of and to learn from in his working report. Also, I was touched in the 30 donations of events in 2013, included a fund by both of his wife and he: they had donated their house allowance to a fund each year 40,000 USD for 10 years. The first beneficiary of their fund was an American Chinese -- Dr. Wenping Qiu who is a professor of agricultural college at Missouri State University...
Until the last week before I left for China, I thought that I should make a courtesy visit to him since I had been in the area under his lead for about 6 months. Therefore, I wrote a letter to him, to thank the university and him and invited him to attend my art exhibition, but I did not expect to be answered. Just did something I felt that I should do, that was ok.
However, an unexpected result happened: Ms. Kristan E. Gochenauer, the Executive Assistant to the President informed me that " President Smart would be delighted to meet with you on Tuesday, February 25."
During the short talking for about 15 minutes, I did find that President Smart was so smart and so sensitive that as soon as he hear something I mentioned to him first time: Try to Combine Traditional Chinese Arts and Modern Chinese Language Together, to create something unique and helpful, he stood up and checked his schedule on the computer and said that he would come to my art exhibition at 3:00pm, Thursday. That really let me feel that I have met a leader and a scholar who could see and understood the value of my effort for 13 years in my own Alma Mater finally...
Maybe for the kind treatment of President Smart, that day, I did express myself very easily in English, so that Mr. Zhang Peng who took part in the meeting by a considerate arrangement of Ms. Kristan E. Gochenauer as the interpreter changed to be photographer and he said that no matter what I had talked and my English expression were all very well.
I really think this meeting for 15 minutes and the following thing that President Smart came to my art exhibition have really changed a big decision that I had done before I met him and it will affect me and my future study and exploration positively for a long time...
If you have any questions, comments and suggestions, please write to
shirley@ebridge.cn . You are welcome to publish your opinions in
Message Board as well.
Shirley Yiping Zhang
March 6, 2014
